Gul RS400 Grand Prix at Notts County Sailing Club

by RS Class Association 28 Sep 2011 08:18 NZDT 24-25 September 2011

Gul RS400 Grand Prix at Notts County © David Eberlin

Notts County were the hosts of the last in the Gul RS400 Grand Prix circuit events for 2011 & the final venue for the popular 'Northern Tour'. The prospect of an exciting 6 race weekend at this friendly club based near Nottingham attracted 28 competitors and has made it the most well attended event outside the recent 'RS Games'.

The visitors were greeted by sunshine and a favourable force 3-4 south westerly wind on the Saturday. Dave Exley / Richard Brown mastered the challenging trapezoidal course and won the first race from local Tom Jeffcoate / Mark Hogan.

In the second race, Dave & Richard kept their nose ahead from Caroline Whitehouse / Guy Mason by picking out the favourable gusts and securing their second win. The strong contingent of competitors made for exciting viewing as boats and helms screamed into a tight leeward turning mark.

The third race saw Wayne & Deb Fletcher, this season's leaders in the Northern Tour, getting their act together and stealing the third race from Dave & Richard.

Following an evening of midlands entertainment, the slight morning drizzle was soon blow away by a fresh Southerly breeze that built to force 5. Tom Jeffcoate took two wins in these slighter stronger conditions from the overnight leaders Dave & & Richard.

This set-up nicely for a deciding final race as competitors checked scores over tea & home baked pastries. In the final race, Dave & Richard got caught at the port-end of the start-line which was the favoured end following a slight swing before the start. This put them at a disadvantage as Tom & Mark staved off the challenges of Wayne & Deb in the exciting planning conditions, to lift the top prize for the event.

In all, a thoroughly enjoyable, well run open event with many happy faces and lots of talk amongst competitors about close-quarter racing and of course what might have been...

More pictures on the club website.

Event Video:

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1st	962	Tom Jeffcoate	Mark Hogan	NCSC	2	-3	3	1	1	1	8
2nd	1186	Dave Exley	Richard Brown	L&L S.C	1	1	2	2	2	-3	8
3rd	1029	Wayne Fletcher	Deb Fletcher .	Scaling Dam	4	4	1	-8	3	2	14
4th	1379	Caroline Whitehouse	Guy Mason	Bartley S.C	3	2	-5	3	4	4	16
5th	1191	Louise McKeand	Matt Jenkins	LLSC	7	6	-14	4	7	6	30
6th	1216	Caroline Exley	Jude Allen	LLSC	5	(DNF)	4	6	8	10	33
7th	1228	Andrew palmer	Andrew Johnson	Grafham Waters	-10	9	8	5	6	5	33
8th	1298	Martin Parker	Liam Parker	L&L S.C	8	5	6	7	-11	7	33
9th	1302	Andy Baldock	Sarah Raper	Grafham Water	6	8	-9	9	5	8	36
10th	1336	John Parr	Kim Parnham	NCSC	-13	7	10	10	12	12	51
11th	1289	Stuart Halman	Gill Greenacre	Leigh& Lowton	9	11	15	12	-18	11	58
12th	1290	Pete Walters	Fiona Hextall	NCSC	11	12	-16	14	14	9	60
13th	1322	Ross Ryan	Kathryn Smith.	NCSC	(DNF)	13	12	11	13	15	64
14th	1131	John Sears	Lindsay Ogden	NCSC	12	10	7	(DNC)	19	17	65
15th	1387	Simon Palmer	Molly McMaster	Locks S.C	-18	16	11	17	10	16	70
16th	1222	Kathryn Temlow	Ken Twemlow	NCSC	14	15	-19	13	16	14	72
17th	950	Alan Elkington	Louise Clayton	NCSC	16	14	20	15	15	(DNC)	80
18th	1067	James Logan	Philippa Logan	NCSC	15	17	13	-20	17	19	81
19th	929	John Whalley	Jenny Whalley	RWYE	17	21	17	16	-22	18	89
20th	1187	Stephanie Gunn	Martin Gunn	NCSC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	18	9	13	98
21st	532	James Hopkinson	Paul Hooper	NCSC	-23	19	23	22	20	20	104
22nd	1363	Paul McHenry	Jan Lincoln	NCSC	19	18	18	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	113
23rd	1122	Jeremy Coupland	Martin Hayhoe	NCSC	20	24	22	19	(DNC)	DNC	114
24th	1083	Sam Wilford	Andrew Wilford	Hollowell	26	23	24	21	21	(DNC)	115
25th	1121	Mark Ehlers	Ryan Ehlers	NCSC	24	20	(DNC)	23	DNC	DNC	125
26th	1288	Nigel Lindley	Jonathan lindley	NCSC	21	(DNF)	21	DNC	DNC	DNC	129
27th	852	Maurice Barnes	Lynn Compling	Hollowell	22	22	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	131
28th	866	Paul Reynolds	Matthew Reynolds	NCSC	25	(DNF)	DNC	DNF	DNC	DNC	141